Chapter 39 - Teach you a lesson

More than an hour later, Eric left John Aniston's house. Reluctant to give up, he circled around Los Angeles International Airport to try and spot Annie to no avail. He estimated that she already boarded a flight to New York.

Through his conversation with John, Eric learned of the pressure Annie felt and realized he had still underestimated her strength.

Thinking back, it was indeed true. In his past, Aniston was the one to ask for a divorce after discovering that Pitt was unfaithful, and saw no hope of redemption. The divorce was also very neat. Compared to those women who would go to great lengths to get every penny they could, she hadn't even demanded alimony.

Eric decided to leave her alone for a while and allow tempers to cool down.

He finally drove home but got a headache wondering how to explain the incident with Drew in the future.

He didn't intend to give up on Annie. This was his first woman since rebirth, and he was quite possessive. He'd definitely get that stubborn girl back even if he had to use underhanded methods.

He returned home to find a neatly dressed Drew, sitting on the couch in the living room. Eric scratched his head. How was he supposed to deal with this little devil?

He certainly couldn't just let it pass, otherwise, the girl would never learn her lesson.

He expressionlessly sat down on the other couch and picked up a random newspaper to read.

Drew saw Eric come back sullenly, and act as if she didn't exist. This had never happened before and only added to her anxiousness.

Although she had always planned on snatching away Eric, she had never intended it to happen like this kind. She was a smart girl and obviously knew that this method would not only, not get her Eric, but would also make him hate her.

Although the misunderstanding from this morning was unintentional, she knew that she was to blame. Seeing Eric's expression, she could guess it didn't go well with Aniston.

To melt the ice, Drew ran to the kitchen and warmed up the breakfast Aniston brought over in the morning and served it to Eric with a small look on her face.

Eric ignored it and continued reading the newspaper.

"Eric, earlier Mr. Hunt from Fox called to discuss some contract."

"Hmm." he hummed in acknowledgment.

"Eric…" Drew whispered and moved towards him.

Rustle–

Eric forcefully turned the newspaper page, frightening Drew who intended to sit beside him to quickly move away.

After a while, seeing he hadn't reacted violently, Drew slowly moved over. She threw herself in front of him, and her face brushed past his knee as she started sobbing. She was really scared that he would loathe or ignore her. If he really did, what was the meaning of staying alive anymore?

"Eric, I'm sorry… Sob, I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to… I can help you explain to Aniston….."

Feeling the fear in her voice and the petite body trembling at his feet, Eric sighed. He had intended to teach the girl a lesson, but seeing her like this, his heart softened.

He was about to speak when he saw Drew turn around and bend over the coffee table, her ass facing him: "Eric, just… hit me if you want. Just please don't hate me."

Eric put aside his newspaper and saw that in her current position, the water green dress was tightly hugging her. It emphasized her well-developed body, her naturally slender waist, and her beautiful heart-shaped buttocks. Altogether she exuded a seductive allure.

Eric's breath got slightly heavy and Drew who was anticipating her punishment looked back. She noticed that his eyes were glued to her butt with desire, and subconsciously raised her ass higher.

Slap –

Eric finally could not hold back and mercilessly spanked her.

You sexy minx, I have been meaning to teach you a lesson for a while now!

...

After punishing her a bit longer, he sent the teary-eyed girl who was rubbing her bum away and left for Fox's headquarters after meeting up with his lawyer.

Although they had a preliminary agreement, it took several hours to negotiate all the finer details. The two sides finally signed the agreement around three in the afternoon and Eric left the Fox headquarters with the contract and an additional 25 million dollars cheque in hand.

"Jeffrey, help me contact Nicole Frank. Tonight, I want to throw a party at my home to celebrate. Of course, all the crew who worked on the Home Alone project is invited. Alright, I'll leave it to you then."

Hanging up the phone, and after some thought, he drove to Jeff's as he planned to hire him as a caterer.

He just entered the lively Italian restaurant, when his fat old friend came and hugged him happily. "Hey, Eric, long time no see! Haha, you really stole the show this time eh? I've seen both your movies, they're really good."

Eric smiled and the two of them made their way to an empty table.

"Julia, two cups of coffee." Jeff shouted to a waitress once he was seated.

"Right away, Mr. Jeff." A female voice responded from behind the counter.

Julia? Eric was a bit curious. He had worked in this restaurant for a few months and knew no waiter by that name. He reckoned that she was probably hired after he left.

He turned around to take a look, and a tall girl with a head full of brown hair had her back facing them, apparently busy with the coffee machine.

Jeff noticed Eric's gaze and smiled saying: "Julia is new, she started after you left. She's also an actor, I heard one of the movies she played in came out this October."

Eric turned back, and asked: "An actress' revenue shouldn't be too shabby, does she still need to be a waiter?"

Jeff replied: "There are hundreds of thousands of men and women dreaming of stardom in LA. Do you think anyone can be as lucky as you and make it so big in the first attempt? I heard she shot the movie I told you about a while ago, and hasn't been screened for almost a year, so she's temporarily working here to make ends meet."

Eric shrugged indifferently, countless movies were being produced each year in Hollywood, for a release to only drag for a year could be considered lucky.

Many movies never made the cut, some weren't even able to be released on tape and would forever be piled in a shady place somewhere, accumulating dust.

This was something similar to his past TV series in China. The mainland produced thousands of dramas each year, but the audience was only familiar with a dozen of them. Some dramas didn't even make it past the pilot episode.

In his past life, if Eric had met one of those tycoons who produced those sure-hit TV shows, he would probably have even tried shameless methods to befriend him, like outright grabbing his thighs and shouting 'Brother!'.

"Here you go sir, your coffee."

Eric was casually chatting with Jeff when the waitress named Julia came over with their cups.

"Thank you." When Eric was about to take his cup, he casually looked at the girl. This glimpse shook him so much that the newly brewed hot coffee spilled all over his hand and the table.

Inhaling deeply, Eric hurriedly drew a few napkins to wipe the back of his hand that immediately turned red.

"I'm sorry…. I'm really sorry!" seeing Eric's skin change colors, the girl was flustered and kept apologizing.

Jeff harshly glared at her, before turning to his guest: "Eric, let's hurry and put cold water on it."

Eric nodded and got up to walk towards the kitchen. When the staff noticed him, they enthusiastically scrambled to help, while as the waitress responsible, Julia stood helplessly behind the crowd. The relationship between the boy and the owner Jeff looked good and she was worried about what might happen.

"Okay everyone, I'm alright. You better get back to work or Jeff will take it out on me."

Jeff pretended to be angry and said: "What am I, a monster?!"

The crowd laughed before dispersing quickly.

Eric returned to the table outside with Jeff, to find the girl standing near them, her face full of anguish.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Williams, I really didn't mean it." The girl knew Eric's name from her colleagues' interaction with him.

"It's okay, I really don't mind. You're…" At this time, he could only feign ignorance.

"My name is Julia, Julia Roberts."